Preparing for a public hearing

Hearing process

The HSNO Act provides the right for the pubic to be heard in regard to notified
applications. The purpose of a public hearing is to enable submitters to present
relevant information directly to the Decision-making Committee, by speaking to
their submission.

According to Section 60 of the HSNO Act:
"A hearing of any application need not be held unless---
(a) The Authority considers that a hearing is necessary; or
(b) The applicant has made a written request to the Authority for a hearing;
or
(c) A person who has made a submission stated in that submission that he or
she wishes to be heard and has not subsequently advised that he or she does not
wish to be heard."

At a hearing anyone who has made a written submission can present their concerns
to the Authority who may want to ask questions of them. It is expected that
parties wishing to be heard have views supported by evidence or information to
be presented which is relevant to the application. It is expected that the
applicant and other stakeholders will treat this right to be heard with respect.

A hearing is a formal, semi-judicial process, and those wishing to ask questions
of the applicant or submitters may be invited to speak by the Authority member
chairing the particular hearing.

Typical order of events

The Chair of the Decision-making Committee will welcome participants to the hearing,
introduce the Committee and explain the process to be followed. The EPA project team will then be invited to introduce themselves.

The applicant will be invited to present the application (see below)

The applicant can call upon other witnesses to support the application (see
below)

EPA staff will present the Staff Assessment Report highlighting the main issues in the report

Any external advisers might be asked to make a short presentation of the
main issues arising from their specific reports (usually incorporated in to the Staff Assessment Report).

Submitter(s) will be invited to presents submission(s) and any further
witnesses can be called

The applicant will be invited to responds to issues raised (see below)

The hearing will be adjourned for consideration by the Authority.

Presenting evidence and information

Pre-circulated evidence is taken as read by all parties, and does not need to be
read at the hearing. Parties are expected to highlight key parts of their
evidence and answer any questions. Parties may refer to published material
written by other people as part of their evidence as long as the source of this
information is clearly identified. People are expected to be able to justify
using this material, and to be questioned on their analysis of it.
If any information is presented at a hearing that has not been earlier released
to the EPA or the other parties, the Chairperson may adjourn the
hearing to allow everyone to assess and respond to the new information. Any
party can request adjournments of this kind.
Written submissions should be confined to issues relevant to the application and not
simply of a general nature. If a submitter wishes to be heard at a public
hearing, they should indicate this in their written submission. In this case,
the written submission should mention all the issues to be raised at the hearing
by the submitter or any witnesses the submitter brings to the hearing. If one or
more witnesses are to be brought to the hearing, the EPA should be
advised of this in advance.

The Decision-making Committee may ask questions after evidence is presented and other
parties might be invited, by the Chair, to question submitters or their
witnesses.

Presenting evidence

Applications to the EPA for release of biological control agents from
containment can be very complex, especially if the application deals with a
number of organisms. Applicants and witnesses are advised to be very familiar
with their own application. It may be some time since it was prepared and/or
might have been prepared by someone other than the applicant. It is also
advisable to be very familiar with the Staff Assessment Report and submissions, and the
issues that have been highlighted. These are likely to form the basis of
questions from the Authority members presiding at the hearing. If the
opportunity arises, it can be useful for applicants and witnesses to attend
another hearing before their own to familiarise themselves with the procedures,
and the nature of the questioning.

When presenting the case, the applicant should be brief, but should cover the
issues clearly. The presentation should be illustrated where this helps to
clarify points being made. Make sure you confront any contentious issues rather
than avoid them, because they will come up in questions. It is often better to
have prepared for this in the presentation than be seen to have difficulty
answering a tricky question. The following is suggested as a possible outline
for the presentation:

Outline the problem which led to the biological control programme, e.g.
describe the target pest, the damage it is causing, economic losses or
environmental threats, its actual and potential distribution in New Zealand,
current control methods.

Describe the proposed biological control agent(s), show slides of the
different stages of the life cycle, and the way in which it attacks the target;
good pictures of 'before and after' from other countries where the agent has
been used, or from quarantine studies help demonstrate the potential of the
biological control agent.

Spend some time talking about the containment testing that was carried out,
and provide a clear interpretation of the results.

Briefly describe how, where and when the biological control agent(s) will be
released, and outline any post-release monitoring that is intended both for
target and non-target effects.

If the applicant is a producer group representative, then it is probably best if
only the first bullet point above should be covered. The remainder should be
covered by the researcher(s) who have been contracted to carry out the
biological control programme development and the containment testing. It is
sometimes best to have the appropriate researcher who carried out the various
aspect of the study to present their work, as long as they are all well prepared
and do not duplicate information. They can be brief and to the point. A
rehearsal where the applicant and other witnesses all have a practice run for
their presentations is very beneficial.